These 3 topics will dominate the 2023 legislative session

Even though lawmakers will be sworn in Saturday, the hard work has already started ahead of Tuesday, when the 98th Session of the South Dakota Legislature will be gaveled in. During the next nine weeks, the Senate and House of Representatives will balance a record recommended budget of $7.2 billion, draft bills and focus on the future of South Dakota.

They’ll also weigh Gov. Kristi Noem’s policy expectations with their own. Noem’s biggest priority: cutting the state sales tax on groceries, giving back more than $100 million to the people of South Dakota if it passes.

While taxes are front of mind for the state house, so are issues surrounding incarceration and the workforce. During a legislative breakfast Thursday hosted by the Greater Sioux Falls Chamber of Commerce, Sioux Falls-area lawmakers laid out their goals.

More:What will a $7.2 billion recommended budget mean for South Dakota's future?

Taxes, taxes and more taxes

Noem shook up the campaign trail in the fall when she announced that if re-elected she would push lawmakers to repeal the state sales tax on groceries.

Both sides of the aisle have tried some form of cutting the tax in the past 20 years, but efforts have failed, most recently in 2022.

Her tax cut faces stiff opposition from fiscally conservative Republicans such as Sen. Lee Schoenbeck, of Watertown, who’s said repeatedly he doesn’t support the cut.

More:What does it mean for Gov. Kristi Noem's campaign to cut the sales tax on food?

Other Republicans have asked to see where the revenue is coming from that will replace the sales tax on groceries.

“Show us the money, show that we can fund state government properly, then we can talk about reducing the tax,” Rep. Greg Jamison, R-Sioux Falls, said. He signaled his support for the cut Thursday.

Democrats in general have supported the tax cut throughout the years. Sen. Reynold Nesiba, D-Sioux Falls, also plans to introduce two bills as a backup plan in case the full tax cut on groceries cannot be done. One bill will focus on cutting a penny from the sales tax, the other will focus on cutting two pennies.

Lawmakers will also direct their efforts to examine if a cut on personal property tax is needed and efforts are planned to re-examine the 2016 Partridge Amendment.

More:South Dakota sales tax rollback inches ahead despite Gov. Kristi Noem's opposition

Sen. Jack Kolbeck said a bill is also up for consideration to drop the assessment value of a home by nearly $100,000, so the owner can pay lower taxes.

Workforce topics are back

The issue of workforce has been a national debate And despite low unemployment numbers in South Dakota, there’s still labor shortages and affordable housing issues.

A $200 million project meant to build workforce housing, which caused friction in Pierre during the 2022 legislative session, is currently dormant. The project was supposed to start distributing funds for housing during the summer.

Sen. Casey Crabtree, R-Madison, the issues surrounding the housing project are “being ironed out, and we’ll probably see action on that in the first couple of weeks.”

Sen. Steve Kolbeck, R-Brandon, added there had been concern about whether the state could be sued if an outside entity determined the workforce housing funds had been misappropriated.

More:$200 million workforce housing program latest friction at South Dakota Capitol

“In other words, if it wasn’t used for low-income housing, someone could sue us and said you didn’t follow your bylaws and then that money would be in jeopardy,” Kolbeck said.

Lawmakers have also proposed updating licensing requirements for professional jobs and providing scholarships for students looking to a future working as mental health professionals.

A bill updating licensing requirements for people working in addition and prevention services was introduced Wednesday, according to the South Dakota Legislature website.

Incarceration efforts 

Updates to the state prison system have been part of the legislature’s to-do list for years.

Noem, during her budget proposal in December, recommended building a new women’s prison in Rapid City and a new men’s prison in Sioux Falls, replacing the current state penitentiary that’s been in use since 1881.

More:Replacing state penitentiary in Sioux Falls part of $600 million vision for South Dakota prisons

Funding for those projects will be top priorities.

At the same time, lawmakers will also be focusing on more juvenile justice reforms following a summer study on the topic.

Bills ranging from revising when a juvenile offender can be committed to the Department of Corrections to when a school is notified about a student suspected of violating state drug or alcohol laws have been introduced.

This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: Three things to look for during the 2023 legislatives session